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I don't drink coffee, but I love Starbucks. What a great company and what a great brand. Did you ever imagine that customers would become so passionate about the coffee "experience?"

The proof certainly is in the numbers. Starbucks has more than 14,000 stores in 39 countries. They have more than 10,000 coffee stores in the United States, often right across the street from each other, and people still wait in line.

It's not only about beverage innovation; the Starbucks brand represents corporate social responsibility and community engagement. They provide healthcare benefits for their employees so they represent wellness, too.

Their culture is very similar to Marriott. They believe if they take good care of their associates, they'll take good care of the customers and they'll come back. That's certainly the core belief of our Marriott culture. So I really applaud all that Starbucks is doing to continue to strengthen their brand.

That's why we're so eager to partner with Starbucks in our Marriott hotels. We're one of their biggest partners. We have more than 60 licensed Starbucks stores in our hotels and many more in the pipeline. Under the Starbucks brand We Proudly Brew, we brew more than 800,000 pounds of Starbucks coffee a year. So we are moving a lot of Starbucks product.

At Marriott, we want to take our customers from "like" to "love." Starbucks is part of that journey. I'm Bill Marriott and thanks for helping me keep Marriott on the move.

reading the blogs about the partnership of starbucks and marriott hotels are overwhelming... but may I suggest to try the new coffee in town...Boresha Coffee...100% Private Estates, fair trade organic coffee...an exotic coffee experience with a purpose...try it, you'll love it.

Bill,
I now run my own business and my travel is much less than when I was VP for global operations with Siemens.
In those days I travelled extensively and spent a considerable amount of time having the privilege to stay at your hotel in many places throughout the world.
The values of your company are evident in the customer experience that you provide and I can well understand the reasoning behind the partnership with Starbucks which obviously follows the same set of values.
Many thanks for the hospitality and courtesy that has been shown to me over many years by your company and excellent employees.
Warm Regards
James Chapman

I don't drink coffee either, but it's not about the coffee, it's about the values. When AT&T Universal Card won the Baldridge Award, a group of employees took to the road to share the key to their success with other AT&T entities. While the rest of us were hearing shareholder value as the driver behind a lot of [employee-battering] decisions, Universal Card's philosophy was that if you treat your employees right, they will treat customers right, and an increse in shareholder value will be inevitable. It's gratifying to know that this philosophy still rules at Marriott, rather than becoming a casualty of the tyranny of Wall Street expectations.

I drink coffee, tea, frappacino, etc. Really enjoy a full service property with a full service Starbucks (LAX property comes to mind). Great partnership, thanks for keeping your customers first when making decisions!

It is good to see Marriott partnering with companies that share the same values. I've been going to Starbucks for years, and I have about 220K Marriott points. To those of you pushing other brands, like Peets and such...I have discovered that there are other good coffee chains out there too. That speaks well for their industry...and of course, I hope they all continue to provide items for those who do not wish to have coffee.
I'd like to see something done about the container waste, however. Perhaps cup recycle bins in every coffee store?

Dear Mr. Marriott, I'm very impressed by your openness and committment to maintain direct communication with your clients. I'm also impressed with the way Marriott is promoting its hotels in Moscow.
I work as an aide to Senator Vitaliy Malkin, who represents the Republic of Buryatia in the Russian Parliament. Buryatia is currently developing sustainable tourism on the Lake Baikal. We search for travel and hospitality companies around the world interested in cooperation. We have sent you a brochure on tourism opportunities in Buryatia for you to consider the Lake Baikal as a next destination for your travel and business.

I don't drink coffee either, but I love the hot chocolate at Starbuck's. Glad to know (or maybe not considering the calories) that I can get a cup of Starbuck's hot chocolate in the hotel when staying at one of your hotels.

Bill, great to hear about your committment to coffee! The new little one-cupper in a lot of Courtyard rooms scared us! Nice to see them changing back to real coffee. Although I can't help but think that the fact that you do not drink coffee might have contributed to like the only bad decision (someone else made) I have encountered with Marriott in my wonderful 6 years of accumulating over 700,000 points!
They would have never tried that if you drank the stuff!
Love you guys! Loyal Marriott Guy (50+nights)

I don't know if you realize that Starbucks coffee is only 10% fair trade. My husband and I buy all of our coffee from Dean's Beans (deansbeans.com)which is 100% fair trade, 100% organic, and kosher too! The coffee is incredible and you can even make your own brew with your own labels. Please check out their website.

Dear Mr. Marriott, I am so excited to se that you have a blog, we really enjoy hearing directly from you. As a meeting planner I have to say that Starbucks is actually a factor in choosing a hotel. I don't drink coffee either so I really can't understand it but my internal clients are always ecstatic to learn that there is a Starbucks. Since we use the Renaissance Sea World so often for meetings that hotel has now gone up even another rung on our list of favorite places. The rest of their renovation is fantastic as well! I look forward to your next edition.

With Starbucks on your side, maybe one day we'll be able to use our new ipods to automatically download the overhead music playing in the Marriott hotel lobbies...That is, in the Marriott hotels where Wi-Fi is free.